News feminist philosophers can use

UK Forced Childbearing advocates adopt US tactics

A sleepy sidestreet near the centre of Maidstone may seem an unlikely frontline in the conflict that has bubbled away, usually with relative calm, since Britain legalised abortion in 1967.

But on a recent weekday afternoon in Kent’s county town, a group of a dozen anti-abortion protesters, led by a veteran of the movement in the US, began their latest “prayer vigil” directly across the road from a Marie Stopes clinic.

But this is a much less fundamentalist country than the US, and abortion doesn’t have the same history. Still, I was rather surprised* by the next thing I read:

Over the course of two hours, members of the group intercepted young women approaching the clinic from either end of the street to hand them literature and engage in conversation, while the protesters themselves became the target of shouts of “disgusting” and “shame” from angry passersby.

Hopefully this is indicative of the reception this tactic will have here.
For more, go here. Thanks, Mr Jender!

*Not surprised by the sentiment. Surprised by the British people shouting it out on the street.

It seems that the reason given for not just including members of BOTH groups in the committee (which advises on sexual health and sex education) was that the government couldn’t find enough chairs to fit enough people around the committee meeting table (or something like that).

[…] Quietly, quite similar tactics are being adopted, not just by protest groups (as noted by Jender here), but also by politicians. The Prime Minister has a consistent record of calling for the time limit […]